Advanced Anime Discussion Part II (1 Viewer)

[Joe_C]

My favorite set of extras on any of my over a hundred anime DVD's is included on the Escaflowne discs. The "Club Escaflowne" I think it was called, where the seiyuu for Van interviewed the rest of the cast. It was pretty funny and very informative. That was followed on discs like 5-7, I think, with interviews of the people involved in the actual production of the show (director, art director, etc.)
I was only disappointed by the fact that virtually everyone on the show was interviewed EXCEPT for Yoko Kanno. I remember eagerly awaiting the last disc, not just for the show itself, but also for the hoped for interview of her. Instead, we get a live performance of the intro song, which was pretty cool but still not exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Joe_C]

anyway, it was like midnight when i was watching it, so i couldn't really follow. seemed like a bunch of dream sequences followed by a few fights.

Don't worry about trying to figure it all out. The show itself is not worth the effort

 

[Ted Lee]

bummer batman...well, hopefully it'll entertain me for a couple of hours. guess i can't ask too much for fourteen bucks!

 

[Kong Chang]

The TV series of X will more suit to people's liking. It goes heavily into people's background and less on action (although it has action). It's such a beautiful series.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Yet, still made by CLAMP, therefore containing inherant suck

Oh God
Woe is me[/qi]
I'm made by CLAMP
They're sucky-y
they draw, sharp lash on eyes
They make girl's shows, you silly hentai

 

[JohnAD]

Oh, very nice! The bard hath returned
John.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Verily my good sir

 

[Kong Chang]

Jeff just doesn't like shoujo, but many shoujo series are much better than some shounen series anyday.
Anyway, Escaflowne Movie R1, luckily, I got a good disc and not the faulty one that everyone is complaining about. So my chapters work fine. My qualm is that the telecine transfer isn't perfect...it's fuzzier than the R2 DVD which has a pristine telecine transfer (unfortunately it's not a digital transfer...oh well). The Japanese DTS on the R1 (at same audio level) is not as robust as the R2 (not sure why, because it should be the same thing). Anyway, all in all, good movie, so-so transfer, lovely limited edition box.

 

[Joe_C]

I really need to gather any available resources I can possibly find, and just go buy the Escaflowne movie. So many great releases lately, and the last DVD's I bought were the last three discs of Gasaraki like months ago...:frowning:

 

[Ted Lee]

hmm...well i finished watching X last night. i must say i was less than impressed. i kept walking around and doing other stuff. it just didn't hold my attention. plus the audio sounded pretty bad. i liked the animation, but the story was so whack i just couldn't get into it.
don't think i'll be keeping this one. oh well, i'm just glad i didn't pay full-price for it.

 

[Joe_C]

I've been meaning to write up a review for that less than stellar release for literally months, but (for the same reasons you mentioned) I just never got around to finishing it. For such a weird, ADD-friendly show, I was incredibly bored by it.

 

[Kong Chang]

Joe & Ted:
That's because you need to read the manga first. The movie really didn't delve into the background of each character and instead concentrated on the action of the story. The plot in the manga is more intricate, and many of the characters comes from other CLAMP mangas, meld into this X-universe. Fortunately, I knew who was whom, and could appreciate it, being a fan of X manga and CLAMP.
There are those who really haven't read the manga will probably won't understand what's going on. So, it's always advisory to read the manga priorhand to watching a movie based on a manga series. TV-series are different.
The movie does allude an ending, but the manga is not even finished yet. Latest tankoban is vol. 17, and we have another 7 volumes more to go in Japan. (24 volumes to equal to the 24 major arcana in a tarot deck).
This is why you must watch the TV-series. TV-series delves into background stories much more so. TV-series also have different Japanese seiyuu's, but you get used to them really fast. In addition, they kept the original characters intact, unlike the movie, who made up the last angel of the Dragons of Earth, because CLAMP, by that time, didn't showcase who the last angel was. The TV series will showcase the last angel (this be Kakkyou, the Dreamgazer).
So watch the TV-series. Am I giving enough of a big hint?

 

[Ted Lee]

of course with my resources kong, that's easier said than done. somehow, i think trying to find the series here in sac may be more effort than i'm willing to give it.
btw - what exactly is CLAMP? is that an anime company? seems like they have a negative vibe? at least jeff thinks so!

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

What Kong said.

 

[Kong Chang]

Ted:
CLAMP is a manga-ka group of females. CLAMP originally started as a manga club in their high school, and as well, originally, there were 7 girls who worked together. They participated at Comic-Expo Japan at lot, selling doujinshi's of their artwork. And because of this, they got recognized by a major publisher. Their first major series (as in more than 1-2 volumes, not the first manga that they produced) is "RG-Veda" which is about a war of gods. This was when they had 5 girls. As I remember, 2 of the girls got married early and left the group, which is why only 5 are publicly known doing "RG-Veda". The 3rd girl who left, left disgruntled because her artwork was being influenced by the head leader of CLAMP, Mokona Apapa (which is a pen-name, not her real name). The one who left created another series all together. The last remaining 4 girls still work together.
Although CLAMP has no involvement with either the movie or the TV-series, CLAMP has designed cover jackets for VHS, LD, and DVD. And they also designed the cover art for the R2 Ltd. Boxes.

 

[Ted Lee]

ahh..more good info to add to my ever-growing anime knowledge base. i was bustin' out some of the other terms i've recently learned to my friend and she thought i was truly an uber-geek!
not exactly the best way to impress her, but oh well... :b

 

[JohnAD]

Ted:
I impress my wife with my uber-geekiness all the time, so maybe it will work in your favor as well .
John.

 

[Joe_C]

John:
Same thing with my longtime girlfriend. Maybe being a geek (albeit an overwhelmingly good-looking geek ) really helps...

 

[JohnAD]

Geek pride baby!
John.

 

[Jay W]

Another small question for you folks regarding Escaflowne.
I'd say I'm a mild anime fan, in the sense that I havne't watched a really broad selection but am pretty passionate about the ones I have picked up/seen (cowboy bebop, neon genesis, ghost in my shell, akira, jin-roh, ninja scroll etc.)
Now from the descriptions given the Escaflowne series seems to look very appealing and I might grab that. How about the movie? is it an essential companion to the series? or could I just pick up the 3 disc movie set and skip the series? Keep in mind I'm not a hardcore fan but really enjoyed the stuff I've watched so far (and generally want to stay in the small circle of acclaimed anime releases since not doing so would surely drive me broke and unemployed ) Oh and any comments by hardcore fans regarding the replayability of the Escaflowne series would be cool too. Thanks guys!
Any comments would be helpful.